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Donald Trump arrived in London yesterday, cue much introspection about his relationship with Britain, Theresa May and the state of the special relationship. British foreign policy was traditionally based on two pillars, America and Europe, and both are now crumbling. With the president’s glitzy arrival and the bombastic departure of Boris Johnson from the cabinet, it has been a good week for those who enjoy politics as reality television.

Philip Stephens examines the similarities between Mr Johnson and Mr Trump in his latest column, arguing that the Brexiters are harking back to a special relationship that does not exist. The president does not believe in Atlanticism, or in any alliances based on interests or shared values. Mr Trump’s “America First” approach means that the US has to win every time, and this bodes badly for any future UK-US trade deal.

Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, argues that a trade war would undermine Donald Trump's economic successes.

What you’ve been saying

For those of us that play the original form of the game, real tennis, which has been played for many centuries, our rackets have hardly changed over many, many years and are still made of wood. The new form of the game, lawn tennis, which came into existence only towards the end of the 19th century, has seen huge change in the rackets used that has changed the game for players and spectators. Even though they were not using wooden rackets at Wimbledon in the early 1990s, modern rackets have a huge head, giving a large sweet spot, and are made of modern materials that give the power to enable players to hit the ball at speeds incomparable with earlier times.

We have forgotten the lessons of 2008. When banks get too big to fail, and too complicated, we all end up bailing out the bankers in a crises, and putting the entire economic system at risk. Banks are different to 20 years ago, and not in a good way. Banks have become incredibly inefficient with horrible cost to income ratios (Unicredit) and poor IT (TSB and RBS). Rather than growing out of their problems these banks should shrink to fit the new age.

Is it not time for the UK government to recognise that between its own inability to form a consensus and the EU’s intransigence that there is no option other than a hard Brexit? Is it not time therefore to form and a business plan for the UK outside the single market and outside the customs union? The obvious lack of preparation for this increasingly likely downside scenario is the most worrying aspect of the government’s failings.